After more than six years of ownership and more than 57,000 miles, I’m saying goodbye to my 2014 Cadillac ELR. It will soon be headed to its third owner (I was the second).
While it’s been a great plug-in hybrid, I’ve decided it’s time to make the switch to an all-electric car.
The ELR has been a joy but ever since Cadillac did a recall and lowered my ELR’s range from an average of about 37 miles per charge to about 30 miles per charge, I’ve watched my lifetime miles per gallon average plummet from the 150s down to 115 mpg at the time of this post.
Post your comments or questions about the ELR here
While I’m disappointed Cadillac lowered my ELR’s range to preserve battery life, I get it. By capping my battery’s accessibility at approximately 9.9 out of 16.5 kWh, the ELR’s battery will likely last well beyond GM’s 8-year, 100,000-mile warranty. But, it also means that I’m running into more occasions where I’m dipping into hybrid mode and burning premium gas.
I thought seriously about keeping the ELR as garage queen that would only be taken out occasionally to car shows and date nights, but in the end, I decided it just wouldn’t be worth the added cost to have a third family car, especially given it would mean a newer car would have to sit outside.
Although I’m saying goodbye to my ELR, I still think it will be a future classic, as Cadillac’s first plug-in vehicle. In my opinion, it remains one of the best looking vehicles to come out of GM’s design studios in this century, and the best looking Cadillac so far this century. Again, that’s subjective. I understand others may disagree.
GM’s plug-in hybrid Voltec system was ahead of its time and to this day remains one of the strongest plug-in hybrid systems ever developed in terms of EV-only range.
I’ll keep this post short since its main objective is to get you to watch the video. In the video you’ll get a good sense of how the ELR has performed and held up over the years. For those of you that are ELR fans, here are two more videos I’ve done since owning the car: